- Community Home
- >
- Servers and Operating Systems
- >
- Operating Systems
- >
- Operating System - HP-UX
- >
- Do I need to know C/C++?
Categories
Company
Local Language
Forums
Discussions
Forums
- Data Protection and Retention
- Entry Storage Systems
- Legacy
- Midrange and Enterprise Storage
- Storage Networking
- HPE Nimble Storage
Discussions
Discussions
Discussions
Forums
Forums
Discussions
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
- BladeSystem Infrastructure and Application Solutions
- Appliance Servers
- Alpha Servers
- BackOffice Products
- Internet Products
- HPE 9000 and HPE e3000 Servers
- Networking
- Netservers
- Secure OS Software for Linux
- Server Management (Insight Manager 7)
- Windows Server 2003
- Operating System - Tru64 Unix
- ProLiant Deployment and Provisioning
- Linux-Based Community / Regional
- Microsoft System Center Integration
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Community
Resources
Forums
Blogs
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark Topic as New
- Mark Topic as Read
- Float this Topic for Current User
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Printer Friendly Page
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 09:31 AM
тАО08-10-2006 09:31 AM
I have an offer to attend a C/C++ training session and my question is, should I? I am pretty good at doing basic shell scripting and awk and a little perl. My C/C++ programming skills are very weak. I am concerned that I might be asked to do more programming if I attend this class. Is C/C++ really necessary in the role of unix administrator?
I look forward to your ideas.
TIA,
Kris
Solved! Go to Solution.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 09:35 AM
тАО08-10-2006 09:35 AM
Re: Do I need to know C/C++?
But, if you won't use in your day to day operations, you won't be able to consolidate the knowledge and you will end up forgetting everything. I learned C in the school but as I never use it, finally, I consider that today I don't know nothing.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 09:47 AM
тАО08-10-2006 09:47 AM
SolutionMore than anything else, knowing a little C makes it much easier to read the section 2 and section 3 man pages (the system calls and library functions, respectively) and if you can understand the system calls, you get a really good understanding of UNIX itself. Just as an example, since you mentioned shell scripting, could you describe in detail (meaning no hand-waving allowed) how the "trap" works? To be fair, knowing C will not make you understand directly how trap works either BUT when combined with the related system calls -- which you will now be able to read and understand -- then explaining how a trap works will be straightforward.
Food for thought, Clay
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 09:48 AM
тАО08-10-2006 09:48 AM
Re: Do I need to know C/C++?
My personal opinion is that the best programmers are (or have been) operators and administrators. Inversely, good administrators have, at least, basic programming skills.
If you have had experience with shell, awk, and/or particularly Perl, you should find C straightforward.
If your concern is that your role will change from an administrator to a programmer/developer and that's not what you want, then perhaps you should discuss your concern with your management.
Regards!
...JRF...
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 10:05 AM
тАО08-10-2006 10:05 AM
Re: Do I need to know C/C++?
More food for thought, Clay
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 11:58 AM
тАО08-10-2006 11:58 AM
Re: Do I need to know C/C++?
It's a rare and happy occasion when something compiles without errors (at least for me), and knowing some C/C++ is a great help for the remainder of those.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 12:29 PM
тАО08-10-2006 12:29 PM
Re: Do I need to know C/C++?
I don't know your age or time in position, but if the training is free, by all means take it.
There are many SA opportunities to use both C and C++, thus that will only increase your value and understanding in everyday SA duties.
Is it necessary for the position?==>I believe others have answered that.
Is is of value?==>Most definitely.
My 2 cents says "go for it".
If I offered one of my people training in a skill set they didn't currently have, and they refused it... Well that's what we call a CLM (Career Limiting Move).
Best of luck with your decision.
Regards,
-dl
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 02:45 PM
тАО08-10-2006 02:45 PM
Re: Do I need to know C/C++?
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 07:11 PM
тАО08-10-2006 07:11 PM
Re: Do I need to know C/C++?
i think hpux also.
u told that u are good with shell scripting.
and also, if u learnt c, u will tell c is simple than shell scripting.
c is structured. good and basic programming language for all other languages.
i will say even it costs some amount, better learn that. c++ is not that much necessary.
All The Best.
Sekar
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
тАО08-10-2006 08:58 PM
тАО08-10-2006 08:58 PM
Re: Do I need to know C/C++?
Being knowledgeable in C is a big asset for a Unix sysadmin, and I would strongly like to encourage you to take the opportunity if they provide you with some training.
However, programming skills aren't acquired in a few days of training, but require an ardent dedication to actually writing lots of programs and looking at well written code.
It often takes several years of constant programming to become really good in a programming language.
Remeber that most of Unix is written in C.
Actually, C was once created for this purpose,
as a systems programming language for Unix.
Even if you are writing C programs for a completely different platform like Windows
you will find that most system calls and concepts are directly taken from Unix.
With your foundation of Unix system administration, shell, awk and perl scripting learning C should really be easy.
As for C++ I am however not so much convinced of its bare necassity for a sysadmin.
C++ is notorious for being quite complicated.
However, it would be helpful to have a basic notion of object oriented (OO) programming.
But for this purpose I think C++ isn't the best candidate because it borrowed too many concepts from C (to make the transition easier for C programmers) that in fact even undermine OO principals.
You can write valid C++ code that isn't OO at all.
Therefore, I would think that a better language for learning OO is eiffel, or java (though even java isn't strict in every OO respect, like basic types that aren't objects).
But (don't laugh) I think even Perl (better yet Python) is good for learning basic OO programming.